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The Nasir Restoration
The Nasir Restoration is the name for the period from the first of June, 4219 to the second of August, 4244. Thus, it began with the coronation of Queen Sarah II, daughter of the deposed Maria, and ended with the second Barmenian coronation of Maria in 4244, after a roughly two year struggle against her parliamentary foes in the Assembly following the death of Sarah's son, Gideon Erastus in 4242. Overthrow of the Eternal Sultan and Coronation of Sarah, Princess of Barmenia Sulyman Aslan Mede, at that time called the Eternal Sultan, had presided over a state which rapidly eroded in terms of civil liberties and fallen into authoritarianism. It should be noted that this did not have to be the case; after Maria's disastrous first reign, much of the country including her former supporters and family members were ready for change. Nonetheless, soon after he rose to power, Aslan Mede had rapidly about faced regarding any promise of democratic reform, and had instead proclaimed himself Sultan. Despite his relative influence, however, the democratic revolutions which had proceeded him had guaranteed the liberties of the Barmenian people could never be truly eliminated, and so the Sultan had styled himself ' Sultan of Barmenia, Guardian of the liberties and rights of Barmenians'. A similar scenario would take place under the Nasir's when they came back to power, and later the Thallers when they were put on the throne. Despite this, Sulyman had proven a terrible ruler, and much of his decision making had produced the opposite of its intent; thus, over the course of his reign, the various wealthy and theological factions which had held up the Nasirs were not only unfettered by any force of legal punishment, but even grew in wealth and power. Such was the case when the Sultan abolished the nation curriculum, and the wealthy Hosian's, Yeudi's, and Ebreonites had merely paid for their children to go to private schools. By the period of 4219 things had reached a boiling point; the Sultan's wish for absolute power, poor leadership, and the devastated condition of the economy all provided fertile soil for a counter revolution. This came in the form of an opposition which would, eventually, overthrow him. More importantly, they would do it without fear of repercussion; a similar attempt to overthrow the Sultan was allegedly made in 4218, yet no one was imprisoned. Whether in the end he was simply weak or by that point did not possess the power to confront them, the result was the same, and Sulyman was overthrown in favor of Sarah, Princess of Barmenia. Her coronation was not met with universal acclaim, as there were those who viewed her as but a copy of her mother. Nonetheless, gradually, the Queen began to win over the hearts and minds of her people; she restored the right of the citizenry to elect their mayor directly, provided universal healthcare, and restored the pension system. Paramilitaries, which had plagued the nation, were finally put under control, and the military was rebuilt, with individual units allowed to elect their commanding officers. Sarah even won plaudits from her detractors for successfully enacting a housing program aimed at alleviating the plight of the poor. These efforts were bolstered in 4224 with the beginning of a massive program to engage in public works projects, and properly maintain and build homeless shelters. Economic reform, and a plateau in popularity (4228) The Queen and her cabinet successfully passed an economic reform measure in the year 4228 which had reigned in the fluctuation of the exchange currency, and restored full rights to the Workers Council's to take lead of various industries. This was not without its share of problems; though the Worker's Councils had served as a proper economic stabilizer in previous decades, by 4228 most of their leadership was out of touch with the workers of the industries that they were supposed to lead. This led to a rash of corruption cases, and a public relations debacle for the Queen and her government, resulting in a steady decline in popularity in the ninth year of her reign, and a formal end of her honeymoon period with the populace. Domestic politics during the reign of Sarah II post 4228 Despite the troubles she faced in 4228, overall Sarah was well liked. She passed a law to restrict the sale of alcohol, yet only required that they be sold by licensed vendors. Similarly, she had a series of other small victories in the succeeding years, and managed to see the power of her party grow in the snap election of 4234, shortly before her death that same year. Coronation of Gideon Erastus, and a conservative turn for the nation. Following Sarah's death, Gideon Erastus was elected by the Assembly to succeed her. Immediately, the young King put his stamp on the nation; gone were any traces of the Sultan or the Mede dynasty, and in came a distinctly religious and nationalistic agenda that was at odds with his mother's views. Indeed, in a sign of the King's feelings towards the Yeudish Republic, the phrase 'to banish cultists and Yeuds' was added to official national anthem of Barmenia. Yet historians still debate whether this was an act of religious bigotry or simply an act of nationalist zeal; at the time, the Yeudish Republic, long a satellite of the Nasirite Kingdom, was acting in a most ungracious manner towards the Kingdom and this would result in the de facto occupation of a good portion of the southern portion of Barmenia's northern neighbor, under the guise of expanding the minority city state which had already been recognized by the Knesset. Yet, despite this largely symbolic action on the part of the King, other sources have indicated that similar to his mother, he suspended enforcement of the laws targeting the Felinist and the Israi populations of the Kingdom. This apparently did much to relieve anger left over from Maria's reign, yet left a bitter sense of frustration at the Nasir's failure to outright repeal those laws. Gideon as guardian of Maria During his tenure, his grandmother, Maria, at that point Queen consort of Nuomonde, fell out of favor in her adopted home country. As a result, she and her husband, King Henry of Nuomonde, were removed from power in a coup by the nations armed forces. Her brother in law, Phillip VI, was proclaimed King, and she and her husband were imprisoned pending trial. The former Queen, ever astute, had hidden much of her ill begotten wealth away. Nonethless, Gideon, as her closest kin that would still have contact with her, was put in charge of the finances that were made publicly available. This sum, though reduced, was still sizable, yet the King found that much of the money was being lost to settlements and legal fees in court battles all over the world. Nonetheless, despite his inability to truly control the flow of money, his ministers and those in the Assembly began to see him as well meaning yet feckless in his actions regarding Maria's finances. Maria was eventually acquitted of the most serious charges against her, in part through her sabotage of the Liberal government in Nuomonde and her secret deal to transfer her ownership of the Nuomonde Investment Company (NIC) and the Western Squibble Holding (WSH) to the Crown of Nuomonde, but mainly because her foes within the Socialist ranks had failed to best her or turn up any damning evidence. Despite all of this, and the fact that he had possessed little power over any of it, Gideon had lost the aura of righteousness which had sustained the restoration. Though he would never be seen during life or after his death as anything but a righteous man, he would never gain the almost saintly reputation his mother had enjoyed. Death of Gideon and Maria's return to the throne. Gideon, who would after this point be referred to as the 'last King of Barmenia' by Nasirists and detractors alike, died via what was likely poison in late 4242, though the King remained in comatose for many months, and his death was not formally declared until several months later, in March of 4243. Despite the lack of official recognition, however, his widow, Queen Christine, became Regent, and following his death attempted in vain to put their son on the throne. The Dowager Queen was finally bested in late 4243, and quietly put under house arrest. Her allies in the Assembly would continue to wage a quiet cold war via parliamentary tactics, until finally in 4244, Maria was elected via consensus between her allies and a breakaway faction of the government which had likely been bribed. As a result, Maria was proclaimed Queen, and her husband became King Consort.